CSTME Outreach Initiatives
Teacher of the Year (TOTY)
NJCSTME 2009 Annual Teacher of the Year Winners
NJCSTME held its annual awards program for science, mathematics and technology teachers who demonstrate excellence in their respective fields. Dr. Brian Baldwin managed this year's competition and will present the monetary award to fund their proposed projects at the NJ Science Convention (Oct 2009) to the winners: Mrs. Diane Butka of Dover High School (NJ) for her project entitled "Ti-Inspire Study"; Ms. Christine Girtain of Toms River High School South (NJ) for her project entitled "The Authentic Science Research Program"; Mrs. Gracelynn Johnson of Camden High School (NJ) for her project entitled "Cooper River Watershed Study"; and Ms. Carol Ann Peabody of Delaware Valley Regional High School for her project entitled "Study Student Alternative [Mis] Conceptions in Chemistry."
New Jersey Academy of Science (NJAS)
NJAS main office is now located in Kean University's CSTME. New Jersey Academy of Science is a private, non-profit, scientific and educational organization of scientists and others interested in science. It was founded in 1954, is affiliated with American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the National Association of Academies of Science.
The purpose of the academy is to stimulate education and research in science throughout New Jersey. The academy seeks to accomplish this purpose by publication of a scholarly journal, The Bulletin, by support of secondary school programs in science, such as our Science for Breakfast program, the Grant-In-Aid Program to promote high school research, and by dissemination of current research results through our annual meetings and special symposia, as well as other occasional publications. Visit www.njas.org for more information, application paperwork and updates.
New Jersey Academy of Science (NJAS) and NJCSTME sponsored a Science for Breakfast Program April 25, 2009 at The Science Academy at Morristown High School (NJ). Two dozen high school freshmen and sophomores asked questions of and spoke with five volunteer scientists about educational and career paths in science. NJCSTME’s academic programs were featured at this event.
The New Jersey Academy of Science (NJAS) 54th annual meeting was held at Rutgers University, organized by NJCSTME and sponsored by NJAS on April 18, 2009. The annual meeting coordinator that drew 150 scientists from high school through professional level for research oral and poster presentations in competition. The next annual NJAS meeting will be held on Saturday April 24, 2010 at the new NJCSTME science building at Kean University.
K-12 Classroom outreach
Curiosity in science and mathematics starts early. We look to encourage these interests in young students through targeted activities. CSTME faculty and our college students routinely go out to NJ schools and spend the day with the children in hands-on science, math and computational enrichment workshops. If you are a K-12 teacher and wish to discuss having a science/math presentation made to your students, please contact NJCSMTE at njcstme@kean.edu
Science Career Workshops for Students
Laura Lorentzen/NJCSTME hosted 2nd annual BioTrac with the Girl Scouts of Washington Rock Council (NJ) and the NJ Association for Biomedical Research (NJABR). For four Saturdays in March 2009, 15 high school girls (half from Elizabeth High School) came to Kean’s CSTME for this biomedical education and science careers exploration program.
Dil Ramanathan/NJCSTME presented (April 7, 2009) “Chemistry Careers” for Take Your Daughters to Work Day Program for 100 junior high school girls on Kean’s campus, co-sponsored by Kean’s Small Business Development Center and Women’s Fund of New Jersey.
NJCSTME sophomores students Simone Grey and Kevin Jala (Nov 3, 2008) presented with Laura Lorentzen and Judy April a physiology workshop on the autonomic nervous system interactive classroom presentation to middle school children at the Ahlis Sunnah School, Islamic Center of America (East Orange NJ) as part of the national Physiology Understanding Week 2008 (PhUn) sponsored by the American Physiological Society.
Brain Awareness Week
The Society for Neuroscience sponsors nationally a yearly Brain Awareness Week in which CSTME faculty and students participate. On March 27, 2009, NCJSTME junior Robin Bagley and Dr. Laura Lorentzen gave an interactive classroom presentation on brain function and anatomy to middle school children at Roselle Park Middle School’s 7th grade class of Ms. Joanne Carbotti for the international Brain Awareness Week sponsored by The Society for Neuroscience. In Spring 2007, CSTME students taught a hands-on lesson about our sense of touch to children. In Spring 2006, CSTME sophomores composed and taught lessons on neurobiology and healthy eating to students at a local urban elementary school. For full information on the event, visit the SFN 2006 BAW report online at http://www.sfn.org/baw/bawreport2006/displayReport.cfm?ID=116
Teacher Training Workshops
David Joiner and Judy April, together with George Chang in computer science, hosted a week-long intensive short course for faculty on high performance computing using Kean's new Dell supercomputer. This workshop was funded by the SC09 Conference Education program, and was one of 14 such workshops offered around the country this summer. The workshop was held from June 7-13 2009.
David Joiner, Ted Farnum, and Judy April, together with Pat Morreale, George Chang, and Dennis Santomauro in computer science, hosted a one-day training event for New Jersey science, math, and computer science teachers. The workshop, "Computer Science & Super Computing at Kean University," introduced teachers to tools that would allow them to incorporate computing into their classrooms and allowed them to learn more about Kean's computing resources. The event was held on June 11th, 2009.